Charity shops.

We had six in our small high Street :

One closed for non payment of rent and because the donations to charity were dubious and another due to escalating rent.

We had four for a long time.

Now it's five and two of them are independent and causing comments about not donating enough to charity .
One is useful if you want cheap books and another affordable furniture and one concentrates on used clothes,bags and shoes .
I've left charity bags outside for collection .
One was not collected and soaked in the rain and another stolen .

Usedtobeblonde

A few short years ago we had at least 5 charity shops in our large village/small town.
Yesterday a friend , whose H has just died, told me the last remaining one has closed.
She was looking for one to donate his clothes.
I was amazed as I thought with today’s need for food banks etc they would have been more used than ever.
Is it so in your locality, are they no longer needed or viable?

Our Church collects clean usable items and food.

Perhaps your friend could donate to her Church.

On a previous thread, a GNetter suggested Anglo Doorstep Collections, who collect from your home. I’ve used them loads of times as they’re very reliable and they offer you a choice of a few charities - just tick a box. This info might be useful to those who’ve lost their local charity shop/s.

www.anglodoorstepcollections.co.uk

I think our small market town has 7.

Two are local hospice ones, another is for a local animal charity, the rest are national ones.

They all seem clean and well run.

I donate to two of them, and buy shirts for DH to garden in, but only ones with little wear and well known names.

They accept rags, which I put in a labelled bag, they are always laundered first.

Hate to think of lazy people sending dirty rubbishy items.

I’ve been volunteering for 10 years in a shop that is a local charity.
I know that we are in trouble. Rent increase/ gas/ electric/ emptying our council skip.
Then there is the drop in the price of rag.

Margiknot

The charity shop in our village shut a few years ago - around the time Covid started. ( before I retired) It had been manned by volunteer local retired ladies. I wondered if raising the age of retirement for women had affected the availability of healthy volunteers. I also heard rents had increased. The shop building is now a small Greek cafe restaurant which seems popular.

My shop has a range of volunteers, most are retired , but some are sahm, we have a few young people doing DOE , or getting some work experience before uni.

Ours is still going strong
I ve been working in it since I retired at 69 so in my 12 th year We are a VERY strong shop with a large footfall and doing extremely well We are a local charity to our area covering about 3 counties
There are three other charity shops in my street

Chocolatelovinggran

Many of my friends give me their clothes and household goods to take to the food bank, so our neediest group can have such for free.
One of my fellow volunteers brings in baby and children's clothes, because the charity shop she supports bins donated children's wear, as the manager says that there's not sufficient space.

When we are overwhelmed by children’s clothes I take them to a woman’s refuge.
Now that has stopped because they can’t take anymore 😥

Squiffy

On a previous thread, a GNetter suggested Anglo Doorstep Collections, who collect from your home. I’ve used them loads of times as they’re very reliable and they offer you a choice of a few charities - just tick a box. This info might be useful to those who’ve lost their local charity shop/s.

www.anglodoorstepcollections.co.uk

Thanks for the link Squiffy. I've been wondering what to do with a pile of household linens and clothing that was too much to haul into town on the bus but I've now booked a collection. Problem solved. 🙂

We had 2 both for the local hospices. My favourite one unfortunately closed as thr landlord was asking too much rent when the lease came up for renewal and it would have eat into their profits so much it wasn't worth carrying on.

What often bothers me in charity shops is hearing people complain about the prices, stating they could buy the same item brand new for only a few pounds more.

What they fail to realise is that these stores are operating for the benefit of their charity, not as a place to get something for (next to) nothing. This leads me to question their motivation for visiting these places. Is it to actually support the charity, or just to find something cheap?

7 in my market town .....4 in my mums village ( NW)

Belardo

What often bothers me in charity shops is hearing people complain about the prices, stating they could buy the same item brand new for only a few pounds more.

What they fail to realise is that these stores are operating for the benefit of their charity, not as a place to get something for (next to) nothing. This leads me to question their motivation for visiting these places. Is it to actually support the charity, or just to find something cheap?

To find something cheap I would imagine for most people....if I want 5o donate to charity then I donate online....I certainly don't go into a charity shop motivated to 'give' to the charity

Regarding prices.

Everything has been donated.

I think charity shops should perhaps sell items cheaper, thus turning over more stuff, and freeing up space.

Vinted must have made a big difference to them, and if people buy from CS with a view to re-selling, does that matter as long as they are getting money in the till?

petra, is there a food bank near you which could take the children's clothes?
I do understand that charity shops may not have room for small items which raise very little money.
Oddly, better - off parents, in my experience, hand baby clothes around family and friends. All of my GC wear hand- me- downs from the family .
Sadly, our poorest families don't always have those connections.

We still have them here in Australia but we don’t call them charity shops because that is a demeaning name for them and not acceptable to most of us. They are opportunity shops. Maybe if they were called that they would have a resurgence? Recycling shops and vintage shops are other names used.

I work for a charity and we have a children's shop. Some of the items we receive are definitely not in a saleable condition.

A lot of clothes have to go straight into the rag bag. People tend to sell on Vinted if they have anything in a good condition.

Calendargirl

Regarding prices.

Everything has been donated.

I think charity shops should perhaps sell items cheaper, thus turning over more stuff, and freeing up space.

Vinted must have made a big difference to them, and if people buy from CS with a view to re-selling, does that matter as long as they are getting money in the till?

Just to say everything hasn’t been donated.

In the nationally run shops, only the used stuff is donated.
The new stuff has been bought in.

My son has a gift shop and one of the important questions he asks producers and wholesalers of goods is “ Do you supply charity shops.”

He learnt this lesson the hard way when gifts he had bought for his shop were also on sale at Sue Ryder next door. Cheaper of course, because charity shops don’t have to pay for shop staff.

This is my experience, too, Millie. Most people are very thoughtful, donating good quality children's clothes and toys.
However, I have learned to look through the bags I am given before taking them to foodbank, and I do find, in some cases, there are items which I donate, immediately, to my bin!
I can imagine that this is quite a problem for the shops.

Lathyrus

I understand what you are saying.

I don’t really see why charity shops sell new stuff that they have ‘bought in’. Well, obviously to make money.

But surely you go in a charity shop expecting to see donated items, not things you could be buying in a gift shop brand new.

Or maybe I’m out of touch.

I live in the middle of town and I've got 4 within 100m of my front door! I offer to drop friends' stuff off, rather than them have to find a parking spot.
I can think of another 4 elsewhere in town and 2 warehouse arrangements a bus ride away.

LOUISA1523

Belardo

What often bothers me in charity shops is hearing people complain about the prices, stating they could buy the same item brand new for only a few pounds more.

What they fail to realise is that these stores are operating for the benefit of their charity, not as a place to get something for (next to) nothing. This leads me to question their motivation for visiting these places. Is it to actually support the charity, or just to find something cheap?

To find something cheap I would imagine for most people....if I want 5o donate to charity then I donate online....I certainly don't go into a charity shop motivated to 'give' to the charity

I do LOUISA1523, absolutely do. I would much rather my money went to our local children's hospice than to any chain stores. Sometimes have to be a little creative with the purchases but the charity and our planet benefits.
What's not to like!

Calendargirl

Regarding prices.

Everything has been donated.

I think charity shops should perhaps sell items cheaper, thus turning over more stuff, and freeing up space.

Vinted must have made a big difference to them, and if people buy from CS with a view to re-selling, does that matter as long as they are getting money in the till?

Totally agree.

I’ve only been volunteering for 3 years but I’ve noticed that we rarely get higher end high street clothes from Hobbs , whistles , jigsaw etc anymore, as people are selling on vinted . It’s more primark and the supermarket clothes .
I’ve also noticed more customers buying a selection of clothes with new tags , which I’m sure they’re selling on vinted . Often they have clothes from a size 8 to a 20 . Of course they could be buying for other people , but when I ask if they want the receipt, they say no .

My nearest market towns have several, I browse a few of them but only donate to one supporting a local hospice, and one supporting a local animal rescue. I’m less keen to help the big national charities.